Stretching Creative Muscles

At the most recent creative writing meeting of the LWC we had a mini-lesson on the meanings of and differences between analogy, metaphor and simile. Then we did an exercise to practice using these writing tools.
     It seems there is an effective four-step process to creating and using analogies in various forms. Who knew?
    At first I wondered if creating good analogies and solid metaphors was worth the effort of having learn a four-step process and practice working with it. If analogy is not something that comes naturally for you in your writing, why force it?
     I appreciate a good analogy as much as I do good description, even though I my descriptive writing skills are poor (as are my skills with metaphors). Of course, analogy is a form of description; in my mind, an elevated form. And though I struggle with sensory description in my writing (and in my posts on Elmore Leonard's writing advice I supported the idea that it wasn't necessary to have description to produce good writing), I am always in favor of working to improve any and all writing skills.
     As with my experience in writing poetry - that I don't and have no wish to write - creative exercises with various forms and aspects of poetry can positively affect how you use words and language in whatever kind of writing you do. I noticed this same effect in learning about and working with analogy.
   The exercises we did in our creative writing meeting was fun as well as enlightening. Learning new writing skills and techniques, even ones you may think you have no use for or any desire to use, is  a good thing.
     Stepping outside your usual milieu and working with types of  writing that are new and unfamiliar may bring new perspective to your work. Expanding your knowledge can help you find unexpected ways to enhance all your writing.

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The Extroverted Writer

They do exist. I'm sure I've met one. Sometime.
     But overall, writers are shy, quiet, introverted types.  And we are certainly, even after we've been writing and improving our craft for years, painfully insecure about sharing our work with others, even people we know. For the most part, we are not outgoing individuals, especially with strangers or acquaintances.We dread the idea of putting ourselves "out there", at least in person as we are told we must to promote our writing.
     Most of us are much more comfortable expressing and presenting ourselves in writing. Therefore, when we do "talk" about ourselves in writing, we need to be willing to really show our personalities. No one wants to be seen as strange, but face it: writers - and creative types in general - are an odd group. We are unusual. The LWC (www.livingwriterscollective.blogspot.com) writers' group I am a member of has a website, blog and fb page that describe us - perfectly - as an "eclectic group" of writers.
     In my last post, I wrote about how "meeting" an interesting author often makes you want to read their work in a way that a description of their work often does not. We need to take advantage of this. Avoid writing bios in the third person. Let your quirky sense of humor and unique perspective show through your writing, both in your stories and novels and "non-fiction" bits and pieces in areas such as social media. Don't try to present yourself as bland, normal, or just like everyone else. Make people see how fascinating you are and they will expect that your plots and characters are as well.

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Miscellaneous Randomness

     To start with, how many people can spell that title without having to look it up? The reason I can fits under this heading. I have a horse with that name.
      His mother's name was Random. Her registered name was P.S. Pretty Chick - ugh! - and I gave her the show name Perfectly Random. She was a mostly white Paint mare with chestnut only on the top of her head covering both ears and both eyes, which were blue. Very random-looking. Anyway, I chose to name her colt Miscellaneous, but the Paint Horse registry gives you three name choices (limited to 22 characters including spaces) and then they pick one. I chose Miscelleaneous, Random Miscellanea, and RandomlyMiscellaneous and they of course picked my third choice. (This could be tied into my posts on character names. Registered and show names and "barn names" of horses are their own special world. Aforementioned colt's barn name is Turner.)
      Where was I going with this? Randomness. Right.
      Writers and their blogs are supposed to share helpful information about writing and where to find more info and advice. I often mention my writer's group, Living Writer's Collective(.blogspot.com) and our director keeps our blog updated with useful insights, links (including the websites and blogs of various members, who are writers of every ilk) and what we have covered and learned during our meetings. Our director also has her own website, also filled with helpful fun stuff: mywritingloft.blogspot.
     Our group has a closed fb page where we share writing tips, encouragement and inspiration among ourselves. Recenly a member posted an article about the 10 Types Of Writers Block And How To Overcome Them. She posted a link, but I don't know how to do that. She got it off a site called io9, which, when I checked it out, has all kinds of unique and weird stuff. Worth visiting.
     Another member posted an article about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is November. If you want to start/write a novel or just practice for when you do, it's a fun way to go.
     For Christmas my sister got me a book called the Daily Writer. As you might guess it has daily topics about writing in no apparent order, and offers suggestions and excercises. Some of it is helpful to me and it has other stuff that is interesting and thought provoking. I will choose some of my favorite pages to share in future blogs.

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Productivity Under Stress

     My writers group (Living Writers Collective) started a facebook group to keep in touch with members about projects and struggles and to share inspiration and encouragement.  One member posted 101 items to blog about. It's for blogging in general, not just for blogs about writing or books, but most can be applied to anything. One of the suggestions was  "How to stay productive when _______________."
     Tonight I'm there. Had an awful event in my family and everyone is reeling and it's one of those things where you can't do anything to help the situation.  Hardly a time to feel creative or productive. I have been cleaning the house and doing laundry like mad just out of my need to do something. I decided to take a break before I physically exhaust myself and to do something else productive - blog.
     I am once again trying to stay on a schedule of posting something twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Although I can write my blogs at anytime and have them post on future dates, I still have to write them. I hope having a deadline will help me deal with my lack-of-self-discipline issues.
     Helen, the heroine of my book series, often has situations she doesn't know how to deal with or has to bide her time when acting on something. The most common way she deals with that is to write. Since she's a ficitonal character, she has no trouble totally losing herself in her project and it keeps her mind off her problem and keeps her productive.
     It's possible this might work for writers in the real world. Somewhere in one of my stories, Helen notes the fact that in her ficitonal worlds she creates the problems and therefore usually knows how to solve them. That could make a writer feel like they are productive and at least able to be active in finding solutions, even if not able to in their real life. A good form of therapy anyway, if it works.
     I don't know if I could do that. I've never tried. I tend to automatically think, "I couldn't possibly write now, while I'm panicked/depressed/upset/whatever."  But my current situation makes me want to try it. And since this is not something that's going to go away anytime soon, I will certainly have the chance.

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What We Can Learn From Our Idols

     My writers group, Living Writers' Collective, has been celebrating our 5th year by having members contribute their Top Five on various topics which are then published on the group's website. Recently the category centered on who our top five favorite writers were and what we learned from them. For me it's a case of 'what do I wish I could learn from them'. Back in July I blogged about some of my favorite authors and I wanted to mention what they do well that I wish I could.
     Dick Francis. IMO best mystery/thriller writer ever. According to his biography, he never edited or rewrote anything; he just made sure before wrote the words that the words he was putting down were precisely the way he wanted them. Hard to believe - I have never heard another writer make that claim. In fact, most say exactly the opposite. That's not what I wish I could learn to do, although it would be cool.
     DF's plots are great, but what I love most are his characters. Within the first few pages I fall in love with nearly all his protagonists. Most of his books are written in the first person and you find out a great deal about them very quickly, all through their thoughts and actions.
     The main characters don't describe themselves. They don't say, "I refuse to let people bully others", "I'm kind and generous", or "I'm insecure, but always try my best". Other characters don't describe the protagonist: "He believes in hard work and honesty"; "He has no tolerance for liars and cheats". Yet the reader knows these things clearly very early in the narrative.
     I read and re-read Francis' books to try to learn how he does it. I've not yet been able to pinpoint it. I have not been able to emulate it. In fact, I'm not good enough to even come close. But I keep trying. And because of Dick Francis, I know it can be done and what to aim for.

www.jennifermballard.com
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Life Happens

     My writer's group, Living Writer's Collective, organized a writer's workshop last month. We invited local author Lisa Patton to come speak and she was wonderful. I think the best thing about  writers at any level meeting published authors is that they realize there is nothing special about them.
     Lisa said her topic for this talk was hope and she mainly wanted to encourage writers. To this end she told everyone that she was "just like them." This is what writers need to hear. They need to know that the only thing most published writers have in common is perseverence. Keep writing, keep working toward your goals.
     Another thing she emphasized was that she, just like most authors and most of the audience, wrote a book while raising a family and working full time; in spite of family illness, death and grief and what she referred to as "life happening", and that anyone can do it.
      So write in spite of it all. Through lack of inspiration, through exhaustion, rejection and despair, a few minutes at a time if that is all that you have. Few writers I've heard of ever got published without trying. I'll tell my story about one of those writers soon, and share my opinion about why success in writing without effort is not a good thing.

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How To Be A Writer

     At our writer's meeting last week, (Living Writers Collective - an amazing group of people) we had several new members and visitors.  Our custom is to go around and quickly give our names and say something about our writing. Our group is great. We have every kind of writer, (children's stories to nonficiton, poetry to inspriational, every genre you can think of) at every level; some have been published widely, some a few times, some never, some write regular f'eatures.
     Among the two most honest statements were (I'm paraphrasing), "I don't write, I just like to come to the meetings and be around creative people and writers." This was from a long term, attends-every-meeting member whose critique suggestions are often the most helpful and well-communicated.
     Another, from a woman who regularly accompanied her teenage grandson, was, "I'm not a writer, but I love to listen to the work being read and critique writing."
      A few members and visitors just offered their names with no comment about thier writing or ambitions, and one listed her many accomplishments, which  I thought may have intimidated the newbies. I said that I write  fiction, mostly mysteries and some paranormal. My friend and critique-buddy said, "I write horror, I've had a story and an article published."
     What distressed me was that among both visitors and regular members were the number of people who referred to themselves as "wannabe" or "aspiring" writers, or said they "would like to/were trying to/attempt to" be writers. Many of these were very talented people who had written finished books and published stories. I wanted to scream.
     What I wanted to scream was (this is a quote from somewhere, but I believe in it), "To be a writer, all you have to do is write."
     It doesn't matter if it's one-line poetry, poorly-told anecdotes, personal journal entries, greeting cards, bawdy limericks - if you write anything, particulary because you love writing, you are a writer. There's no other criteria. You don't have to publish, submit or even share your work with another person.
     If you have the desire to write, and you do so in any form, you are a writer.
    So write.

www.jennifermballard.com
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Identity Crisis?

     When people ask me what I write I say, "Mysteries, mostly."
     When my mother tells people her daughter is a writer, she says, "She writes about vampires." Members of my writer's group, The Living Writers Collective, have also been known to say that.
     According to "the industry", my latest books and stories are not mysteries. Depending on the source you consult, my current writing is "urban fantasy" or "speculative" or "paranormal". I am not opposed to some of my writing being called paranormal mysteries. However, I also write mysteries about horses and other perfectly ordinary animals.
     It's possible I call my books and stories mysteries because that makes them more mainstream. Maybe I don't want to be pigeonholed.(If that isn't a word it should be).
     Many writers, beginners to bestsellers, write more than one kind of book. In the past, publishers have  made writers choose psudonyms under which to publish books other than the ones they are best known for. I think it's good that the industry is moving away from that, but it does get confusing for bookstores and patrons. Do you look for Charlaine Harris books under "Paranormal/Urban Fantasy" or "Mystery"?
     The first book in my  series, Daylight's End, features a vampire and the fact that he is a vampire is central to the plot. But it also includes a mystery that is completely unrelated to the vampire character.
     In my second book, Before Daylight (sequel to the first), there is another vampire, who is central to one part of the plot, but again, there's a mystery that has nothing to do with the supernatural. Beyond Daylight (working title of book 3) will feature yet another vampire and a sorcerer. Book 4, will also feature more vampires and probably another non-human or two.
    I have written many stories about the characters from my novels. I must admit, while many of them can be called mysteries, some cannot. And in my Daylight stories, all plots as well as most characters, involve supernatural elements. These stories also feature characters from books 3 and 4, both novels which are yet-to-be-completed works in progress. And I'm certain characters introduced in some of the stories will turn up in later novels.
     So, is my writing mystery or paranomal?
      Yes.